Fact Sheets

The ALA Library receives inquiries from librarians across the country and around the world, as well as from the general public, on a wide variety of library topics. We have prepared fact sheets on the most asked-about topics, as noted below.

Wiki

For over 85 years, staff members of the American Library Association (ALA) Library have provided reference service not only to their ALA Headquarters colleagues but also to hundreds of librarians across the country and around the world. The primary mission of the ALA Library is to help the staff of the American Library Association serve ALA members, and thereafter, the needs of the members of ALA, other libraries, and members of the public seeking information on librarianship. The ALA Library is a small special library with a collection that focuses exclusively on the history of and issues within libraries and librarianship. The Library's staff will respond to reference and information requests in accordance with this mission and collection scope.

While we do answer questions from the general public, we prefer that questions that do not pertain to librarianship and the interest areas of the American Library Association become part of the 7.2+ million reference questions answered by our colleagues in school, public, academic and other special libraries.

Ask the ALA Library Blog

Q. It's the question most often heard from students during Banned Books Week, "Why was this book banned?" More accurately, the question is who challenged this book being in the school or library and wanted it removed, and why, and when and where did this happen - and how did things turn out?